Serendipity
by Shini-666
Summary: PostMovieverse An aptitude for making fortunate discoveries by accident. Losing one charge is unfortunate, losing both is careless. With billions of humans in the world, how can Ironhide find just one?
1. Teaser

Anyone expect another story so soon? Me neither.

Transformers are the property of Hasbro. It's their beach, I'm just splashin' in the kidde pool.

I suck at summaries. If you've got a better suggestion, by all means email me and let me know.

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Will had survived Qatar. He'd survived Scorponok. He'd survived a battle that ravaged a city. Hell, he'd even survived a madder than hell wife upon his belated return home. Fate, creative as it often tended to be, would make sure he did not survive the inevitable.

It had been four years since the battle of Mission city. World peace was a few steps closer. Cars on the production lines had the emissions of harmless water. Global warming had been curbed. The attack had come out of left field.

A now retired Keller had invited all to his estate, a reunion for that small group who could never be recognized for what they'd truly done. The reunion would coincide with the anniversary of the Mission city battle, a celebration in remembrance of their victory, fleeting as it was.

"Will Lennox. I suggest you reconsider your decision." Ironhide commented even as the Captain loaded the last piece of luggage into the Topkick's bed.

"I told you. Much as I'd prefer riding with you, considering it'd be cheaper…I gotta go with the wife on this one. Eight hours stuck in a truck with a cranky five year old verse's an hour flight?' Ironhide was silent, correctly guessing that the question had been rhetorical. "'sides the tickets were bought weeks ago."

"Your safety drops significantly by risking this flight."

Will smirked, patting the tailgate after latching it closed, "Love you too buddy; but we're taking the flight." It had been two years since the last Decepticon attack. Ironhide wasn't about to be fooled. He knew they were out there, waiting. Starscream was an opportunist, he'd waited ages for Megatron to fall, now in command of the Earth based Decepticons he had a vendetta against the Autobots and the humans they watched over.

"Look! Look 'Hide!" A bubbling five year old rushed from the house and straight up to the black Topkick, wrist held out to display the silver bracelet around her wrist, she'd done the same action nearly every time she approached the vehicle; regardless of the fact that he already knew what she'd want to show him.

Having turned five only a month prior it had been made quite clear that she had a 'most favoratest gift ever'. Ironhide had requested the item be fashioned by Ratchet-it wasn't as if they could simply go into a human store and purchase such an item. The medic had out done himself. The silver bracelet was thin, but strong as steel, it would take far more than the normal trouble a five year old got into to break it. Engraved on the silver band it read simply, _'Annabelle'_ she read the letters off from memory while displaying the gift. On the opposite side similarly engraved was another name, '_Ironhide'_. It had been a rather sweet gift, from a guardian to his charge; and no one was aloud to utter a single word about it unless they wanted to deal with his cannons.

The Topkick revved his engine in response causing the little girl to giggle and run back towards the house, her path changed course as Will caught her and circled, lifting her from the ground, "You ready to go?" Still caught in a giggling fit she nodded in response, "Sarah. Honey…?"

"Coming Will!" Pausing at the doorway she questioned, "Do we have everything?"

"Just about… anything we're missing we'll worry about when we get there." With that confirmation Sarah shut and locked the door before moving to the Topkick who'd opened his passenger side door for her. Will secured Anne in the back seat before climbing into the driver's seat.

When they reached the airport Ironhide again voiced his displeasure, honestly he couldn't understand their demand for taking a plane rather than using him for transportation. Then again, when little Anne had one of her particularly nasty temper tantrums he could just turn his audio receivers off, Will and Sarah of course were left to suffer. "Everything'll be fine 'Hide. We'll see you tonight." Will commented before climbing out of the large truck. Sarah smiled at their over protective guardian helping Anne out of the back seat.

"Say goodbye Anne." Sarah commented, holding her daughter's hand on the busy terminal unloading zone.

With the bustling, busy motions of passengers saying their farewells, rushing to make flights, and struggling with luggage, none seemed to notice a small girl wave at an intimidating but seemingly harmless truck, "Bye 'Hide!"

Nor did anyone seem to notice the lack of a driver as the large black truck pulled away from the curb.

Four hours later found Ironhide making relatively good time, his windows were tinted to the darkest degree and he put very little effort into maintaining his hologram. Luckily the dark shade of the windows blocked most from noticing the hologram's occasional flickering. A traffic jam during rush hour had slowed his progress a bit, however he'd ditched the main roads an hour ago, using his access to the internet to map a new route using secondary country roads to make up for lost time. When Optimus had questioned his location Ironhide had been quick to send his coordinates across the link before questioning, **"What is it Prime?" **He wasn't due to arrive for another four or so hours, so Optimus' questioning had him concerned.**  
**

"**There has been an attack."** The even tone his leader had taken made Ironhide's spark sink even as he pressed his engine to its limit.


	2. The end of the wait

To all loyal fans who waited patiently after the first teaser chapter. I'm sorry! School and work consumed my life. Plus I really wanted to try working this one out better, although I admit the ending is still sort of hazy at the moment sigh I'm just not great with plot twists.

Anyway here you go!

And by popular demand, smaller chapters. Not smaller updates just bigger one's broken up into bit sized pieces.

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"Help! I need help! I've got a live one over here!!" A worker shouted. It had been only half an hour since the two Seekers had fled the Houston airport. In their wake they'd destroyed over a dozen planes of varying size and knocked down half of the terminal. Rescue efforts had been relatively quick at first, firefighters, police, reservists, medics all had been called in from across the state. While the visible victims had been taken care of those still trapped beneath the rubble were being extracted at a far slower pace. The area was unstable; one wrong shift could end a precious life.

Several others were quick to approach, hearing the faint sounds of a child's cries somewhere beneath the mass of steel and rock. The remains of the terminal were slowly lifted away, waiting chairs tossed aside as they worked frantically to save the small life below. When the last piece of concrete was removed a dirt covered tot was quick to make her escape, tears streaking her soot covered face as a rescue worker quickly scooped her up. "Parents. Any sign of the parents?"

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**Ratchet is nearby and en route to the site of the attack.** Optimus explained, knowing it would be little comfort to the Topkick.

Already Ironhide had attempted to contact both Sarah and Will via their cell phones, both went straight to voicemail. If he was any sort of reasonable mech Ironhide might assume that they still had their phones turned off, after all airlines required all electronics be shut off during flight. Unfortunately, Ironhide was not a reasonable mech.

On another, separate line Prime ordered Bumblebee and Jazz to intercept the Topkick. The last thing anyone needed was for Ironhide to 'go postal' as Sam often warned.

**What exactly do you want us to do Prime? 'Bee's got the kids with him.** Jazz questioned, already the silver Solstice had altered his course in order to meet up with the black truck.

**Just keep an eye on him.** Optimus replied with a sigh in his voice. **Ratchet, report.**

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The medic had been at Keller's home already so making it to the airport had been relatively easy, the sirens came in handy. **Secretary Keller has ordered reserve troops to the site in order to maximize rescue efforts. I am on location now.** To the rest of the world the Search and Rescue Hummer was navigating in and around ground zero. **Prime. Sarah Lennox has already been pulled from the debris. **

The medic's silence was all Prime needed to understand the situation, **Are you positive?** If it was any less serious of a situation Ratchet might have scoffed and assumed Optimus was insulting his diagnostic of the human female. However in the grave situation he understood the meaning behind the question.

**There are 36 points of comparison matching her body to the body of Sarah Lennox.** Much like humans identified bodies by tattoos, dental records and fingerprints; Ratchet did the same with varying points of comparison.

**Understood, hold your position and offer assistance**Optimus ordered before cutting the connection, luckily Keller's troops arrived then and he was able to do more than simply scan the injured and dead pulled up from the rubble. His scans showed him biosigns, the location of living humans no matter how close to death they were, this information he sent to several laptops that Keller's men had set up, they then instructed rescue workers to the specific locations listed. The dead would be dealt with later, for now they had to focus on finding the living.

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"And just how exactly are we supposed to stop him?" Sam questioned, eyeing the large black truck speeding down the road beside them.

Jazz replied, Bumblebee broadcasting his voice across the radio so his passengers could hear, _**Just keepin' an eye on the big guy.**_Of course Ironhide was unaware of their conversation, only annoyed at the escort he revved his engines and shifted left causing Jazz to skid left in order to avoid being ran into. Then again with the height difference between their alt forms it was more likely that the Topkick would have run over the Solstice. When Jazz began a string of curses, from varying languages and degrees, Bumblebee cut off the radio broadcast.

Ironhide remained silent, Prime's scout driving to his right and Prime's current second in command and saboteur on his left. Whenever they came to close he'd shift to one side or the other causing them to swerve away, just a reminder. He wasn't up to playing games at the moment, and nothing would stop him from reaching his goal.

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Optimus was the second mech to arrive on the scene, by then most of the still living had been removed from the rubble. It seemed an odd sight, the flame adorning semi parked beside the rescue vehicle in the midst of the aftermath. All were too busy to question.

For a time the larger mech was silent simply waiting for a report from his CMO. No matter how skilled and accustomed to battle they were, such acts among humans still seemed devastating. There were so many precious lives on this planet and it seemed everyday thousands were extinguished, just out of natural causes. It was a sobering thought to a race whose life spans seemed naturally indefinite.

**Neither Annabelle nor Will Lennox have been rescued yet.** Ratchet informed the other, every soul that was pulled from the terminal remains had been scanned, and rescanned as the medic searched for the signs of the human they considered a comrade as well as his sparkling.

**They could have been found prior to your arrival.** Optimus stated, always the optimist, true, Ratchet had made it to the scene nearly two hours after the attack but the odds weren't in their favor.

**I will check with the local hospitals. Unfortunately to accommodate this many patients, victims are being sent to several locations.** It would be like finding a needle in a haystack, looking for two humans among the thousands now occupying several facilities through the area.

**We cannot give up hope. We will not rest until they are found.** Optimus replied and the unspoken phrase was clear, they owed it to Ironhide, a fellow comrade in arms. Just as Bumblebee would and had done anything to protect his charges, so would Ironhide protect the soldier he'd befriended. Such a bond extended to Will's family as well and upon meeting his first human sparkling (the one when he'd first arrived didn't really count, there hadn't been much interaction other than being called a tooth fairy), Ironhide had taken to her instantly.

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	3. What we dread

"Hey Ratchet…"

"What is it Mikaela?"

"Don't take this the wrong way or anything…I mean, I think it's great that Ironhide hasn't given up hope yet or anything…but it's been five years Ratchet. The odds that-"

"Mikaela I didn't believe I would ever need to remind you of the fact that I am an antonomus robot organism capable of conducting calculations at speeds your most brilliant human scientists have only theorized. I know the odds exactly."

"Yeah, okay, alright, so then why does-" 

"Mikaela, I believe you humans have a saying, 'follow your heart'. Just because we Autobots know the numbers, it does not mean we have to believe in them."

The girl fell silent briefly, "You know Hatchet, I don't care what the twins say about you. You're a good mech." She commented, patting his dash.

For a minute the medic was silent before, "Did you just treat me like a domesticated canine?"

"A dog Ratchet. A dog."

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"**Target confirmed?"**

"**Affirmative, Over."**

"**Assessment of the target?"**

"**Target it approaching at a heading of zero zero one niner, Ove-"**

"**Would you two slag for brains stop that before I come out there!"** Ironhide growled over the communications line, met with chuckles from the aptly named terrible twins.

"We're adapting to the local culture!" Sideswipe argued, they'd grown found of the 'radio lingo' police and military used, most of which they'd learned from Epps.

"What's the status of that pit spawn?" Ironhide questioned.

Sunny revved his engine, "Looks like we've got a Barricade on the prowl."

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"Prime it's a bad idea."

"I agree, this doesn't sit well with my spark…"

"Hey now, Everyone jus' needs ta chill. Big guy came wantin' peace we'd be Deceptislags if we turned him down."

"I must agree with Jazz. Barricade has agreed to our terms, we have no reason not to give him a chance."

"He tried to kill me! If it wasn't for 'Bee he would have!"

"That's not entirely true same." The young man glanced up to the yellow mech. "I don't doubt my own ability but I am not designed for head on combat like Barricade and Ironhide. I should have lost that battle. He…."

"He went easy on our lil' bug." Jazz completed for him, giving said scout a mock punch in the shoulder plating.

"He wasn't present in Mission city." Mikaela pointed out from memory.

Ratchet nodded in agreement, "Nor has he been associated with any Decepticon attack since."

"Give him a chance." Sideswipe commented.

Sunstreaker nodded, "Never sat well that he was a Decepit-crud anyway. They're mostly fliers."

Sides' optics blinked, "Could you imagine teaching 'Cade Jet Judo?" The twins seemed to share a brief silent thought before they both raised a single hand.

"We vote to give him a chance."

"The slag? Since when do you get a vote?" Ironhide grumbled.

"Since this is a democracy." Sunny informed him.

"Since when?"

"Since we voted on it." Sides' commented with a smirk, only to back away when he heard the taletell signs of a cannon charging.

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"Are you sure about this Optimus?" Ratchet questioned after learning of the other's order.

"Barricade has done nothing to warrant my concern yet. I believe charging him with the task of watching a human family would aid in his transition."

"I understand your point…" Barricade had remained mostly on the base or off on his own since his surrender to the Autobot's two years ago, which meant the would be Decepticon still had very little experience with humans.

"And I understand your concern old friend; which is why Jazz will accompany him for a time."

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"Where's 'Hide?" Sam questioned, it had been nearly a week without the weapons specialist around and there hadn't been any news reports of explosions. Sam was reasonably worried.

"He is searching." Bumblebee replied, optics focused on the little bundle currently crawling around the table in the Recreation room. Sure the sparkling was no where close to the edge, and Sam was right there by him but still, it was a guardian's duty to always protect his charges.

Sam frowned glancing towards his son. Bee was fifteen months now, aptly named after the being that had forever changed the lives of his mother and father. A sad smile came crossed his features, "I know Ironhide feels responsible and all…But it's been almost fifteen years 'Bee. I don't want to sound cold but chances are, if…If Anne's alive she probably doesn't remember any of us, maybe that's for the best ya know?"

Bumblebee nodded in response, they'd had the conversation before and he was sure they'd have it again, "For an Autobot ten years is a moment of time Sam. Besides, it is unheard of for an Autobot sparkling to go missing in this respect. Even if they were the equivalent of Anne's age they would remember their creators. Besides that, any medic would be able to likewise determine a mech or femme's creators and take the appropriate actions to return the sparkling…"

Sam nodded, "The idea that Anne is out there with another family, living another life bugs him." He figured he understood and the yellow mech nodded in response. No one ever mentioned the thought that Anne could be dead, least of all to Ironhide.


	4. My life

"Anne!" Excited.

"Go. Away." Dead panned.

"Anne…" Whining.

"Die." Angry.

"Anne." Hurt.

A single eye opened in annoyance, "I never wanted to see you before seven in the morning."

"But Anne it's two minutes after seven!"

She growled, "Only because you've been pestering me for the passed five minutes!" Shifting she pushed herself up enough to throw her pillow at the older male; then frowned when she realized that she'd relinquished her pillow.

"Dad…" She whined in response.

Smiling he moved to sit on the edge of her bed, "Anne, You're leaving your old man in two days. We've got a lot of goodbyes to say."

"I'll be four hours away! In college! Two minutes from Aunt Linda!" She complained trying to bury herself under her blankets.

Her father over acted, making the motion of being stabbed in the heart as if her words had cut him, "Oh cruel world! My own daughter is leaving me all alone!"

"You're forty five! Grow up!"

He smiled, daring any male at that college to mess with his little spitfire. "Come on get up, we've got a long day ahead of us."

"I have to pack, how long of a day is that?"

"We have to stop by the secretary of state to get the car put in your name, then to the insurance agency to get-"

"Wait." He smiled, oh yes, that had her attention. "We're doing what?"

"The Saleen honey, we're putting it in your name. You didn't think I'd sent you off to college carless did you?"

"I figured you'd give me the truck!"

He smiled, oh yes, she was certainly awake now, "Anne, for starters you'd never be able to afford the gas on that monster, scholarships or not. Secondly, you'll be parking the car at Aunt Linda's, the smaller the better, she's already doing you a favor by letting you garage park it."

Anne frowned, she remembered that thing. The Saleen. Over seven years ago it had just showed up. He father stated the government gave it to him, bah. Sure they already paid him a hefty amount for the work he did, something computer based and technical enough to give her headaches thinking about it. Still, she didn't think they'd just pass out cars as well. Then again she didn't think they'd invade third world countries looking for weapons of mass destruction or take wolves off the endangered species list and hunt them down again.

For starters, it wasn't a new model when they'd gotten it and by now it was, well pushing it's limit. Or it should have been, any other care from that same model's year would be showing rust, faded paint, no. Not the Saleen. It's black paint was as sleek as the day it rolled off the factory line. The white pin striping wasn't cracked or nicked in the least.

The few times she'd driven the car nothing but trouble had come. The first day she'd driven it to school another student with a vendetta against her had apparently keyed the black car. She'd been called down to the office and informed of the act by the school's security guard who'd caught the girl. When they went to show her the damage the guard had been completely stunned at the lack of damage.

"Dad, if the government gave you the car is it alright for you to just give it to me?" Hah! There.

He nodded, "It was…a gift, a bonus. It's not something they loaned to me so yes, it is." Damn. "Now, up."

She groaned but did as ordered.

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"Come on Anne…you might as well get back into the habit of driving it…" He commented trying to coax her towards the car. It wasn't as if she really hated it, it was just old, and a car. She much preferred trucks. Of course her friends teased her to no end. Despite it's year the sports car was just that, a sleek vehicle that any high school kid dreamed of having. She would rather drive her fathers pick up truck.

"I'll buy you chocolate…Lot's of it." She sighed, catching the keys as he tossed them to her.

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Barricade lowered his frame a minuet movement, settling further on his wheels. This was the fifth time today that he'd been left sitting in a parking lot waiting for his human charges to return. At least this time the femme had likewise remained waiting, ha Barricade would see how she liked it.

When David had first suggested the idea of leaving with his youngling Barricade had flat out refused. He wasn't completely fund of the idea of working with humans to begin with. This fleshling in particular had seemed to be nothing but trouble. Of course he'd smugly mentioned that he'd been assigned to David and his family, considering the work David did, aiding in the refining of resources into high grade for the Autobots.

Barricade had thanked the fact that David had very brief and limited knowledge of the other Autobots, the meatbag would never be able to despite him. Sadly that fraggin' Prime had overruled him. It seemed that slaggin' Preceptor had landed and who better to par with a scientist than another scientist? Which meant Barricade was without a job, so what better to do than baby sit a femme? That was Optimus' take on the situation. The bug had warned him of this 'college' and he'd done extensive research, he wouldn't say he cared for the femme, or his main charge, but…should anything happen to the girl, David's work would more than likely be negatively affected and in the long run. That would do him, and the rest of the Autobots no good at all. So youngling sitting it was.

At least he had the introduction to look forward to. Barricade refrained from rumbling his engine in amusement; after all it was supposed to be turned off. Transforming in front of the femme was bound to be interesting, introductions with humans usually were.

"Finally!" Anne commented when David returned to the car, carrying a bank lock box with a smile. Barricade noticed the man's vitals showed he was uneasy but he didn't inquire. That would ruin his surprise later.

"What's that? My inheritance or something?" She questioned, jokingly as she turned the engine on and pulled them out of the parking lot.

"Or something." Her father confirmed.


	5. Chance meeting

First of all I'd like to apologize for not only starting one but two stories that I've sorta let go…

Long story short life has just been crazy. My dad broke up with his girlfriend which led to me getting to go on a cruise (Which was awesome) and then he gets back together with her and proposes… Not sure if that's a good or a bad thing yet.

On top of that there have been a few deaths in the family, not anyone close but ya know how it is, have to make an appearance.

Work has been busy, what with the transfer to the bigger busier store and yeah…

Lastly. At the tender age of 22 I've been diagnost with Degenerative Disc Disease…It's not really a disease but something that happens when you get older. The short explanation is that it causes (and has caused me) massive back pain (for a year now) and due to the pinching of nerves causes my right leg to go numb.

I'm in the process of getting an mri done to determine whether or not I have to have surgery which will totally flip my life around.

Because of this I'm on several strong pain killers that are sorta working, they dull the pain but it's still there. The only thing their really good for is making me very tired. Needless to say my posts are probably going to have more grammical/spelling/etc errors in it and I'm sorry.

You guys can thank ViolentBigGrl for hunting me down on Deviant Art. She made me want to get back to writing when I felt too run down. It was nice to hear from someone after so long. ^_^ Thanks!

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"Hey Anne… can we talk?" David questioned, calling up the stairs.

Packing in her room the teen frowned at the serious sound of her father's voice. Rarely did he ever sound so serious.

"Sure." Running a hand through her brunette hair she stood before making her way to the living room. Curling up in one of the chairs she eyed the deposit box sitting on the coffee table. "What's up? Do you have some uber secret could destroy the world? Information that you're now intrusting to me?"

He gave a slight smile, "I'll tell you about that later." He answered; she of course took it as a joke. "Anne. You know that we were involved in the Houston bombing when you were little?"

"Yeah…" She frowned not understanding why he was bringing that up. She'd only been five when that had occurred and the event had been enough to send her mother close to the edge. She'd grown up taking care of her mother, not the other way around. Then again Anne couldn't blame her, had she been an adult during the attack she figured she would have freaked too.

"And you know your mother was always…sensitive." He furthered and she nodded, her mother had always been overprotective, obsessively so. In the end her mother's mind had body and just been too weak, six years ago she'd passed away.

"She was like that before the attack as well Anne and when the explosions began…Anne I was so scared for her, and for our little girl." She narrowed her eyes at his choice of words, "I promised that when you were an adult and…and when your mother could handle it, I'd tell you."

"Dad what are you-" 

"Anne, I love you. I always have and I always will. And I'm sorry that I've done this to you."

----f-l-a-s-h-b-a-c-k-y----

"David….David! Where's Melissa? Where is she?"

"Mary we have to go. This building is going to collapse!" He was frantic, the burning rubble around them was groaning in protest, threatening to give way. He wasn't heartless. Far from it, after the blast he'd come to relatively quickly. He'd found Melissa first and it had been heart breaking. The father in him wanted to lift the concrete slab, the logic in him took one look at what remained of her form and knew that his little girl was already gone.

Finding his wife had come next. "Mary we have to leave now!" He shouted and she resorted to tears, unable to comprehend why her husband was shouting, why he wanted to leave their baby girl missing. Refusing her pleas David forced her away from the crumbling building.

"-got a live one over here!" Came the faint sounds of the rescue workers. They came into sight as David finally breathed a sigh of relief it seemed they were out of immediate danger. "Parents? Any signs of the parents?"

"My baby!" David blinked at his wife's sudden cry, and sudden strength in pulling free to rush over, "My baby girl you're alright!" To this day he knew he was selfish. He knew it was wrong, but he loved his wife, losing their only daughter would kill her.

"Get your family out of here!" One of the rescuers shouted to him, pointing towards the area set up to supply first aid to the bombing victims. Nodding deftly he wrapped an arm around his wife's shoulders, glancing down at the frightened girl in her arms.

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Anne was silent, the tone of her father's voice, the mention of her mother's fragile mind, talking about that horrible attack. Her father wouldn't joke about any of those things. Her father- No, he wasn't. "But…how?" She didn't really trust her voice, rightfully so, it barely formed the words.

David sighed, at least she wasn't throwing things at him, yet. "We moved, for starters. Began a new life here. I had the government pull up the papers, change of name…birth records. Anne I did this for your mother, she wouldn't have survived if-"

"If she knew her real daughter was dead. So you gave her a fake a replacement. Is that what it was?" Anger, reasonably.

David closed his eyes for a moment, "Anne. I love you, you are my daughter. I told you, I know it was wrong and I can't ask you to forgive me for that, but I had to come clean. It wasn't fair for me to hide this from you."

Leaning forward he opened the deposit box, "This is everything, things you had on when we found you, legal documents of your change of name…original documents for Melissa…" He fell silent for a few moments, all he'd had to do was use his military clearance and explain that all the original documents had been lost in the attack. Forging new documents had been relatively easy. "I do love you Anne." He seemed bent on reminding her of that fact.

Frowning as she glanced over the things he began to pull out and place on the table she did the only logical thing her mind could come up with at the time. She ran away. Not even bothering to grab shoes or a coat to fight the evenings chilling air she only grabbed a set of keys before running towards the curb.

Barricade for his part had no idea why the femme seemed to be panicking as she climbed into the driver's seat, forcing the key in a little harder than he'd like. His engine only gave a rev of protest that was quickly drowned out as she hit the gas. Oh….David was going to hear it from him later.

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It's hard to imagine what one might do in a situation such as Anne's. It's easier to imagine your parents sitting you down and telling you exactly what David had told her, however the response is the difficult part. Initially her mind had ordered a fight or flight response. She'd taken the latter of the two.

For a while she'd merely driven local streets places she knew, areas she was familiar with, eventually she went farther, to areas she'd been before but locations and streets were new. Funny she'd lived here all her life, no, all the life she could remember and yet only one city over and she could lose herself to a world she'd never been before.

Occupying her thoughts that way she tried to keep her mind off of more important matters. The longer she thought about it, the calmer she became. Regardless of new information, Dave was still the father she'd known and loved all her life, it wasn't as if he'd kept her locked in some cage or anything…and her mother…Sure she'd not been all there mentally but the woman had loved her like her own daughter.

Was it right for her to hold this new knowledge against the man that had raised her, cared for her and loved her? It certainly didn't change the fact that he'd always been there for her. However it did leave her wondering, was there some other family looking for their little girl? Had they forgotten her? Given up hope? Was she anything like them? Were they good people, or bad? It was a stupid thought but she wondered these things anyway.

So lost in her thoughts she never noticed when the Saleen slowed, pulling off to the side of the road and parked. Engine idlying still Barricade remained silent; sure, his scans were no where near as in depth as the medics but he could tell when a meatbag was shocked and this went beyond that.

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The engine David heard pulling up to the house was not the one he was looking forward to hearing. Then again he wasn't sure if he wanted Anne to return anytime soon after all, they might not have been related by blood but his little girl had her mother's temper.

Glancing out the front window he caught sight of a large black truck, recognizing the emblem it bore on it's hood. He remembered this one metal wasn't it? Steel..no..ah yes, Iron…Iron something.

Deciding he'd best not keep an Autobot waiting the scientist headed outside, only then noticing the reasonably smaller red car that was parked along side the large black behemoth. Was it just him or did these aliens have expensive taste? Due to the Autobot logo replacing the usual factory label he couldn't tell off hand what sort of car the red one was but later he was informed by a rather giddy mech that it was a Nissan 2008 GTR. "Dr. Stone." Ironhide greeted something, voice deep and even.

"Afternoon." He replied with a slight wave, "You must be…" He trailed off glancing towards the smaller, less intimidating vehicle.

"Preceptor." The mech supplied before adding, "Simply a fascinating planet you have here Dr. Stone."

"Uh…Thanks." The middle aged man commented, the Autobot made it seem like he was personally responsible for the creation of the planet.

"Where's Barricade?" Ironhide questioned, his scanner's not picking up the former Decepticon's signal.

That caused the human to sigh, "Out with my daughter." He commented deciding to leave it at that, he doubted any of them wanted to hear about his family troubles.

Speaking of family troubles his cell phone decided it was an appropriate time to ring. Frowning he excused himself and hearing neither mech protest he pulled out his phone to answer.

"Linda…? What's-" The small frown he was wearing only grew.

"Oh Linda…" His voice was filled with sympathy, however it quickly changed in response to something she'd said, "Don't you even think about it. You do what you have to do. Anne's a big girl she can take care of herself—I know, I know but don't worry about it. I've got more than enough to get her a nice apartment."

Several more minutes passed in which the human male paced his front yard while the two vehicles sat silent and unassuming. When the conversation finally ended and the human sighed it was the smaller red car that spoke up first, "Dr. Stone? Your biological signs are showing that you are upset." It was a statement, but one that clearly wanted to know why the human was upset.

Ironhide, having finished his job of escorting Preceptor to his new station, didn't really feel like listening to whatever explanation the human had. Mumbling the large black truck excused himself, backed out of the drive way and headed for home.

Had he not spent years explaining the human world to Barricade David might have been a little put off by the invasive question. "That was Linda, my sister-in-law. Anne was going to live with her while going to college." He explained first, letting them know what was supposed to happen before, "She just got a call that her mother had a stroke. She's moving across country to go take care of her with the rest of the family." He waited a few seconds, to see if the bot could bridge the connection that Linda moving meant Anne had no where to stay.

"There is no where else for her to go?" Preceptor questioned, David shrugged.

"She can always say on campus in the dorms, but they aren't ideal." Walking around the house he headed for the garage, motioning for the mech to follow, "I could get her an apartment but I worry about her being alone."

Scanning the area first to make sure there were no eyes on him Preceptor slowly rolled forward, following the human. "She will have Barricade with her, I doubt there is anything, save a Decepticon attack that would harm her. Even then it would take several 'cons to bring him down."

David shook his head briefly as he punched in the code allowing the garage door to begin rising. It was electronic allowing the mechs to tap in and open or close the door at their will. "I'm not worried about that…Okay I am a little, can't help but worry. But I worry about her mentally, emotionally. It can be hard being out there all alone. Especially with…" he frowned trailing off, "It can just be difficult."

"I see." Preceptor offered, though it was far from the truth. He understood parental worry, and the worry over the femme's emotional state but his quick search of the internet showed that thousands of younglings leave home for college every year. However it was his duty not only to work with the human to further Energon conversion technology but to provide for his well being, physically and mentally. "What if there was another family that could take her in?"

"There's not. Linda was the only one living close to the college and even then it was about a forty five minute drive to campus."

"I did not mean a family with relations to yours. Well at least not a martial relation." When David motioned for the car to enter the garage Preceptor rolled forward to take up one of the two available spots.

"What do you mean?"

"Your family is not the only one with Autobot relations."

"I know that." David gave him a somewhat flat look.

Preceptor didn't take the annoyed tone to spark. "There is another family living in the same general area to which Barricade was going to be assigned; I'm assuming of course that is the location to where your youngling was supposed to be moving."

Ah, now David understood, "It's a nice suggestion Preceptor but…for starters I couldn't just ask some random family to take in my daughter, besides that, I'm not going to make her move in with a bunch of strangers."

"I understand your hesitation. However I have already relayed the suggestion to their guardian, he has informed me that they would be more than willing to take her in, should you and your youngling so decide."

David sighed, great, well there goes the 'well we don't want to impose' option. "I'll mention it to her." It was the most he could offer and it seemed to appease the Autobot.

Night was well underway by the time the dark Saleen pulled into the drive. David had long since returned to the house, letting Perceptor catch up on his recharge, which the scientist had mentioned he was short on prior to landfall.

Using the remote garage opener Anne frowned at the sporty little two door occupying half the garage. At least it explained why the truck was parked on the street curb. Pulling the Saleen in she parked and sat. Briefly her anger flared, he drops this bomb on her and then goes and buys a sports car? She doubted the vehicle was for her as her father knew red wasn't one of her favorite colors.

Turning off the engine she continued to sit. She'd taken her brief absence and used the time to think. Now that she was back she doubted her decision, sighing at her lack of resolve she shook her head. Steeling her nerves she climbed out of the Saleen and headed for the house. In her state she never noticed the garage door closing itself.


End file.
